Swallows' Sato outduels Tanaka

by Rob Smaal (Jun 14, 2010)

Yakult Swallows pitcher Yoshinori Sato was a real party-pooper in his
homecoming Sunday as his performance on the mound at Kleenex Stadium
left a packed house with a bad case of the baseball blues.

Sato (2-5) outdueled another young hotshot right-hander, Masahiro
Tanaka, as the Swallows completed a two-game sweep of the Rakuten Eagles
with a scrappy 3-1 come-from-behind victory over the home team.

Last year, Sato, a native of Sendai, lost in an interleague matchup
with Tanaka. Things worked out better for him this time around, however.

"I guess it was my turn (to win) today," said Sato, who held Rakuten
to one run on five hits and three walks through 7 2/3 innings, in which
he threw 128 pitches.

The game marked the second straight day the Swallows knocked off one
of Rakuten's dual aces. On Saturday, Yakult beat Hisashi Iwakuma 4-1.

Sunday's win, coupled with Yokohama's 7-2 loss to Orix, saw the
Swallows climb out of the Central League cellar.

Yakult now has an 8-4-1 record since interim manager Junji Ogawa took
the reins from Shigeru Takada on May 27. They are 8-13-1 against
Pacific League opposition with a pair of rainout make-up games set for
Monday and Tuesday at Jingu.

On Sunday, the afternoon started out with a little drama as an
earthquake measuring 6.2 at its epicenter in Fukushima shook Kleenex
Stadium 30 minutes before the opening pitch. No damage done, but the
shaker did send a few fans scurrying out of their seats in panic.

Once the game got underway, Sato and Tanaka went toe-to-toe in a
good, old-fashioned pitchers' duel. Sato was perfect through his first
three frames, not allowing a run until a solo homer in the fifth, while
Tanaka was also getting it done for Marty Brown's club, keeping the
visitors off the board through seven innings.

Things turned in favor of the Swallows in a fateful eighth. Speedster
Kazuki Fukuchi beat out an infield single off Tanaka to get things
started, and Norichika Aoki followed with a double to right to put men
on second and third with none out. Hiroyasu Tanaka grounded out to
short, but the runners were forced to hold.

Rakuten skipper Brown then paid a visit to the mound with sluggers
Aaron Guiel and Jamie D'Antona coming up, but Tanaka stayed in the game
to face the big boys. Guiel drew a walk with first base open to load 'em
up and D'Antona then delivered a sacrifice fly to left to tie it at a
run apiece.

The next batter, Yasushi Iihara, was walked on four pitches by Tanaka
to reload the bases before Ryoji Aikawa also drew a walk, forcing in
another run and putting the Swallows up 2-1.

It could have been worse for the Eagles. The next batter, Shinya
Miyamoto, hit a soft liner to center and Ryo Hijirisawa ran in and made a
shoetop catch to end the inning. It appeared, however, that Hijirisawa
may have taken the ball on the short hop, bringing Yakult manager Ogawa
out of the dugout to argue the call. Replays were inconclusive and the
call stood.

The Eagles threatened to get back on even terms in the bottom half.
After Teppei Tsuchiya and Norihiro Nakamura hit back-to-back two-out
singles, Sato was lifted and Ogawa brought in Kenichi Matsuoka to face
aging slugger Takeshi Yamasaki, whose 15th home run of the season, a
solo shot in the fifth, had given the home team a 1-0 lead. This time,
however, Yamasaki went down looking at a called third strike with the
count full.

"It was good that I was able to keep us in it (for seven-plus
innings) and I felt my effort was rewarded when we went ahead late in
the game," Sato said.

Yakult got some insurance in the ninth off reliever Hiroshi Katayama
when Aoki hit a two-out single and Hiroyasu Tanaka drove him in with an
RBI double to left.

Swallows closer Lim Chang-yong worked a 1-2-3 ninth to get his 10th
save of the season.